Tapirus veroensis

Tapirus veroensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Perissodactyla
Family: Tapiridae
Genus: Tapirus
Species: veroensis

Tapirus veroensis is an extinct Tapir species that lived in Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Missouri, and Tennessee. Tapirus veronensis is thought to have gone extinct around 11,000 years ago.[1]

History

The first T. veroensis fossil was found at Vero Beach, Florida in 1915 and named in 1918 by the Florida State Geologist E.H. Sellards.[2]

Physical Characteristics

T. veroensis fossils found in Northern Alabama were with caribou and peccary fossils which implies that T. veroensis was capable of living in a temperate climate with subfreezing temperatures.[3] The T. veronensis was most similar to the extant Mountain Tapir.[4] As with all tapir species, T. veroensis had a proboscis which was used for grabbing branches to eat the foliage. They were herbivores, living on a diet of forest vegetation. They most likely weighed over 600 pounds (270 kilograms) and would have been capable of fending off large predators.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "Fossil Tapir with Facts, Photos and Pictures of Fossil Teeth". Fossil-Treasures-of-Florida.com. Retrieved 2016-01-07.
  2. ↑ "Fossil Tapir with Facts, Photos and Pictures of Fossil Teeth". Fossil-Treasures-of-Florida.com. Retrieved 2016-01-07.
  3. ↑ "The Extinct Vero Tapir (Tapirus veroensis)". GeorgiaBeforePeople. Retrieved 2016-01-07.
  4. ↑ "The Extinct Vero Tapir (Tapirus veroensis)". GeorgiaBeforePeople. Retrieved 2016-01-07.
  5. ↑ "The Extinct Vero Tapir (Tapirus veroensis)". GeorgiaBeforePeople. Retrieved 2016-01-07.
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